1. Field of Invention
The present invention provides an automatic paper feeding system and, in particular, discloses an automatic paper feeding system that can simultaneously control paper-grabbing and paper-separating functions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Business machines are often used in offices to help with the processing of documents. These business machines include copiers, fax machines, printers, etc. To facilitate continuous document processing, these business machines all have paper feeding systems to supply paper. Since most types of business machines can only process a single-paged document a page at a time, the paper feeding system of the machine must be able to send exactly one sheet of paper each time to the machine. If the paper feeding system sends out more than one sheet of paper at a time, the sheets are likely to jam in the machine, causing delays in the entire document handling process, as well as wasting paper. Therefore, it is of great importance that a paper feeding system that can feed exactly one sheet of paper at a time be designed.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a side view of a paper feeding system of the prior art. This conventional paper feeding system 10 comprises a paper tray 12, a lift plate 14 rotatably fixed in the paper tray 12, a lift rod 16, and a pick-up roller 18. When the lift rod 16 rotates counterclockwise, the front end of the lift plate 14 is lifted up so that the pick-up roller 18 touches the topmost paper on the lift plate 14 and feeds the paper out of the paper feeding system 10.
Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a side view showing the situation when a conventional paper feeding system feeds multiple sheets of paper. Since the conventional paper feeding system 10 uses only the pick-up roller 18 to deliver the paper 11, it is likely to feed several sheets of paper from the paper feeding system 10. This leads to multiple paper feeding, and the sheets may jam in the paper-feeding channel. Multi-feeding and paper jams result in wastage of paper, are troublesome for the user, and may also reduce the lifetime of the machine.
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide an automatic paper-feeding system that can simultaneously control paper-grabbing and paper-separating actions in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art.
Briefly, the present invention discloses an automatic paper feeding system with a paper-grabbing device and paper-separating device, and a paper tray having a front end that can move up and down. A paper-feeding channel is in front of the front end of the paper tray. The paper-grabbing device is installed on the paper tray and moves paper in the paper tray into the paper-feeding channel. The paper-separating device has a paper-separating roller and a paper-separating friction disk which are respectively installed above and below the paper-feeding channel. These elements together permit only a single sheet of paper to move past. An actuator mechanism installed under the paper-feeding channel lifts up or pulls down the front end of the paper tray and the paper-separating friction disk. Finally, a driving device drives the paper-grabbing device, the paper-separating device and the actuator mechanism. When the driving device is activated, the actuator mechanism lifts up the front end of the paper tray and the paper-separating friction disk, and paper placed in the paper tray comes into contact with the paper-grabbing device. The paper-grabbing device moves the paper into the paper-feeding channel. The paper-separating friction disk upwardly contacts the paper-separating roller, and the paper-separating roller moves a single sheet along the paper-feeding channel.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the operation of the actuator, paper grabbing-device and paper-separating device together insure that only a single sheet of paper is fed to a device. Furthermore, the design of the present invention reduces the number of components required for the paper feeder, thus reducing overall product costs.
These and other objectives and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.